ABSTRACT
Evolving from my previous studies (Kobayashi, 2006, 2010), this chapter addresses the issues of: (1) Japanese students’ idealization of western English-speaking international students as conversation partners in the context of Japanese higher education, (2) Japanese students’ voluntary friendship with Korean students in the context of western English-speaking nations, (3) a theoretical account of the seeming incongruity in Japanese students’ attitudes toward other Asian students either in Japanese higher education or in western study-abroad contexts, and (4) institutional impediments to Japanese higher education’s internationalization, especially in humanities and social sciences programs and language centers.
In the first section, for example, research findings on international students’ friendship with Japanese students are reviewed to explore the feasibility of internationalizing Japanese universities with the increase of international students who predominantly hail from the neighboring Asian nations.
Referring to Japan’s education ministry’s endorsement of Japanese students’ better understanding of Japan’s neighboring countries or many international students’ home countries, the present chapter ends with an unexplored question as to whether the increase of Japanese college students who study in English-speaking ASEAN countries and communicate with local multilingual students/teachers could contribute to their re-negotiation of the societally entrenched notion of English aligned with western native English speakers.
